


Closest to the heart

by jessunnie



Category: AB6IX (Band), BNM BOYS (Band), Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Mentioned Lai Guanlin, Mentioned Ong Seongwoo, Truth or Dare, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-02-07 05:52:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18614455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessunnie/pseuds/jessunnie
Summary: The second button from the top of a male's uniform is often given away to a person he is in love with, and is considered a way of confession. The second button is the one closest to the heart and is said to contain the emotions from all three years attendance at the school.or alternativelyHow loner and shy student Park Woojin was dared to confess to his long time crush Park Jihoon on Valentines Day.





	Closest to the heart

**Author's Note:**

> Just sharing with you some fluffy 2park to contribute with the tag! Also I heard today is Battle Trip's anniversary! So this also became a way to celebrate~ :)
> 
> Inspired by this vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qih6FOzzkz4

 

Truth or dare was a dumb game. Even dumber was the dare made by his one and only dear cousin Lee Daehwi. And dumbest was Woojin for even accepting the stupid dare.

 

They had been celebrating his cousin’s birthday with Jinyoung and getting shitfaced while playing some drinking games in his place. Don’t ask why the couple insisted on having his company. If he had to guess, he would probably assume that Daehwi felt pity for his lonely ass. But the good thing was that any awkwardness, being the third wheel, has completely vanished (along with the glasses of soju shots Woojin got from his father’s cabinet).

 

At some point in the night, they started a game of spinning the bottle. Everything was going fine, but it was also getting a bit boring.  All of them were just choosing truth for like the third round, so Woojin chose dare to shake things up a little bit. And a DARE™, was what Daehwi gave him. Woojin’s stubborn and pigheaded nature, made it impossible to back down once he had accepted a challenge. And boy, how he regretted it.

 

So now here he was, in front of the school’s gate, with a bag with homemade chocolate and a valentine’s card inside his backpack that felt like it was weighting a fucking ton instead of a couple of grams. It was the weight of his anxiety he bet. And right now, the stupid monster was whispering in his ear that everybody could see his intent just by look at his constipated face. Great.

 

The dare was simple enough he guessed, but also embarrassing as hell: He had to give chocolate to his crush on Valentine’s Day, along with a card confessing his feelings. It would be a lot simpler if Woojin wasn’t also terribly shy. Lucky him.

 

No way he would’ve come with the idea on his own. Woojin liked being the quiet, loner student, that sat on the last row. It had been working just fine for him so far. No messes, no distractions. He also never intended to letting his crush be known. Woojin didn’t even knew how Daehwi discovered it in the first place when he thought he had done a good job in concealing it.

 

When he looked back and and saw Jinyoung and Daehwi on the street corner, giving him a subtle thumbs up, as if to encourage him to keep going. Woojin sighed. Stupid cousin, with his stupid small headed boyfriend, making him do stupid things.

 

It didn’t really helped that Park Jihoon – his crush and a popular kid for both beauty and brains – was looking all kinds of amazing in his black rimmed glasses. He also had probably rejected more candy and chocolates in the previous years as Wonka’s Factory was ever able to produce.

 

The pretty boy in question, was talking and smiling at Minhyun, the handsome sunbae and former president of the debate club that graduated last year. Woojin’s brain was already fabricating a whole story in his head, about how the older must be giving Jihoon his own Valentine’s chocolate at that exact moment. They would definitely look great together, a much better match for Jihoon than himself.

 

What chance he got against THAT? They’ve barely interacted. They were not exactly friends, although Jihoon seems friendly enough and kept laughing at his lame frog puns he made to cover his discomfort, while the teacher showed them a poor dissected amphibian. He was only a guy he shared a couple of classes with and that cracked some jokes during their lab class when they had to team up.

 

Woojin gulped, his will crumbling at his own thoughts. Sighing he ran his hand through his hair, pretty sure that the sweat, collecting inside his sweater, had nothing to do with the weather. He looked back again and now his friends were cheering a loud “FIGHTING”!

 

 _Good lord, I’m going to kill them._ He thought, head down and nailed to his spot, dying in embarrassment and shame.

 

He knew exactly what to expect: Rejection in big and bold letters, like the many others before him. So why does Woojin still feels so nervous? He just got give the gifts to Jihoon and then leave as fast as he could. Easy-peasy.

 

_Man up, Woojin. You can do this._

 

Woojin straightened his back and went towards Jihoon, where he had just said his goodbye to Minhyun sunbae. No chocolate in sight . Even so his steps kept faltering, losing his confidence as he gets closer and closer to his destination. The boy stops in front of Jihoon who was looking at his phone and raised his eyes in curiosity when noticed the other.

 

“Hey, Woojin. Are you good?  What can I do for you? ” Jihoon asked cocking his head to the side – rather cutely if you ask Woojin – his pretty eyes assessing the fidgeting Woojin that was still struggling with his words.

 

“Hi!” Woojin let’s out in a high-pitched voice, before he cleared his throat, starting again in a calmer tone. “Hi. I… uh … just...” He starts rummaging in his backpack for the chocolate, when they got interrupted by a tall and wide smiling boy with his cap backwards.

 

“Oy, Jihoonie! All set for tomorrow?” The shorter boy just hums, nodding in his direction with a small smile, while the guy clasps his big hand on Jihoon’s shoulders waiting for confirmation. “Ok, then. I was thinking around 8pm, after my dance practice? Is that okay for you ?” the handsome guy asked, which Woojin vaguely recognizes as the dance club captain.

 

_He has a foreign name…hmmm… David, Damon…_

 

It was clear as day for Woojin, that Jihoon might have been rejecting all chocolates for a reason. The reason being the good looking dancer in question. If he was being completely honest with himself, Woojin kind of expected Jihoon, being beautiful the way he was, to have someone else. He couldn’t even blame him really. The guy was packed and a great dancer, not to mention the charming smile that was always on his face. He sighed losing all his brief jolt of bravery, hands letting go of the stupid valentine’s gift inside his pack.

 

“Yeah Daniel hyung, that’s fine. I’ll be waiting.” Jihoon confirmed, eyes on Daniel. “Nice!" Jihoon looked to the speechless boy in front of him, who wore the softest smile, it made Woojin’s knees little weak. “What were you saying? Woojin?”

“Ah...yeah...Iw-waswonderingif… ah...well... if you could lend me your biology notes?” Woojin started fast, making his story up as he went on. “Only if you won’t need them now...but if you can’t that’s totally-” Woojin was clearly panicking and ready to run from there, but before he could even stop his stuttering,  he was being interrupted by the cutest chuckle and a hand resting on his forearm reassuringly.

 

“Of course I can, Woojin! What kind of lab partner you take me for? And don’t worry, you can keep them until you finished with them. Here you go.” Jihoon said, giving the notes to Woojin with ease.

 

“Oh...ok. Yeah..uh…thanks, man! You’re a lifesaver.” answered Woojin awkwardness oozing from every pore. He didn’t know what to say next. He hadn’t planned that far. He hadn’t planned at all, really. His initial plan was completely blown away by his cowardice and sense of defeat, before he could even attempted anything. “So… I see you around?" The boy nodded, lips curling up in another cute grin. "T-thanks again, Jihoon.” he bowed and bolted to his class, like he was being chased by a crazy dog.

 

Jihoon looked at the boy with surprise at first, his mouth morphing to a cute “O” shape before giving in to a fond smile, that illuminated his whole face while shaking his head lightly.

 

Woojin trailed on the corridors of the school with his head down in disappointment, on his way towards his first class, when loud steps came up to him. The most annoying couple he ever had the chance of knowing, the one and only Jinhwi.

 

“So how did it go, lovebird? Well? Did you score a date?” started a rather curious Daehwi, a happy little bounce in his steps beside the defeated boy. Jinyoung followed closely in silence, but he was looking intently to Woojin, waiting for his response with interest.

 

“I didn’t. Chickened out.” murmured Woojin, running his hand through his hair in frustration. “He has a boyfriend already, so what’s the point in embarrassing myself?” he said tired, walking faster and then turning backwards to look them both in the eyes.

 

The couple shared a weird  look that spelled “Come again?” with each other before turning to the boy in front of them, that paused his backward walk in confusion. “No, he doesn’t.” Daehwi answered with confidence. “I’m pretty sure Jihoon hyung is single.” confirmed Jinyoung off-handedly, scratching his chin while thinking.

 

“Pfft~ You guys know nothing. I saw it with my own eyes.” snorted Woojin, crossing his arms in annoyance. _Why can’t they just accept his word? Why were they so persistent?_

 

“And who is  this mysterious boyfriend that only you know about?” asked Daehwi with a raised brow, getting closer to Woojin’s face squinting for a reaction.

 

“Hmm... he is this tall, kinda sturdy and has this annoying bunny teeth that seems to smile 24/7. Ah... and like that wasn’t enough, what's-his-name is also the dance club president.” whined Woojin,pouting by the memory of…  Derek… Devon… whatever, wishing his friends would just let it go already.

 

“Good Lord, do you live under a rock or something? Everybody and their mothers knows, that Kang Daniel is head over heels with his university boyfriend.” Daehwi said, rolling his eyes at his idiot of a cousin, before motioning for them to get closer. “I heard the guy is an aspiring actor too.” he finished the last part in a gossipy whisper, his mouth giving into a wide grin.

 

Jinyoung giggled at his boyfriend and patted the boy’s head fondly, earning a menacing look from the smaller for messing up his locks before adding with certainty, “I also happen to know that Jihoon hyung isn’t seeing anyone. He is too busy studying and playing his games all night long. Trust me, I’m his neighbor.”

 

“I don’t know, man. They seemed to be planning something together.” Woojin scratched his head in thought. But what was there to fear? Having or not having a boyfriend wouldn’t change his predicament, would it? “Ok, you guys convinced me. So what if he is dating? I’ll get rejected either way. I’m not backing out of a challenge. My mom raised no wimp.”

 

“That’s the spirit, hyung.” said Daehwi, tapping his back in support.

 

The bell went off, warning the class would start and startling the little group into movement by the wave of students that came from all directions.

 

“Now we have to get to class. We’re already pretty late. Chop chop, dumbass.” Daehwi said his goodbye grabbing his boyfriend’s hand and turning to their English classroom, while Woojin headed to his own class with a bit more of  confidence. Maybe he really could do this, he just gotta plan it better. But at first, he had to pay attention to the class if he didn’t wanted to fail in Math. His grades were pretty average, he couldn’t afford getting a poor score.

 

But no matter how much he wanted, he couldn’t focus at all to the teachers explaining the basic concept of vectors. The notion got jumbled in his brain, so he gave up trying to understand it, trying to think of a plan to give Jihoon his notes back.

 

They didn’t share his next classes so Woojin figured out his best chance was on lunchtime at the cafeteria. He could give the chocolate in a inconspicuous way, so that he didn’t attract too much attention to his rejection afterwards. Just like calling Jihoon in a corner or something, away from his popular friends.

 

Looked like a safe plan. _Right? RIGHT?_ Ok, so planning wasn’t really his strongest attribute... so what? What’s important is that he would give the thingy, complete the dare and then proceed to never look in the eyes of his crush ever again.

 

 _PHEW_.

 

His concentration wasn’t any better at the following classes, all he could think about was what to say and how to act to not seem like a complete moron in front of his longtime crush.

 

You see, Woojin wasn’t really an eloquent person. Somehow words just became a chaotic mess in his head and he dodged that by avoiding talking to people he wasn’t comfortable with. He wasn’t the broody mysterious guy people took him for, he just had really poor communication skills and was painfully bad with small talk (apart from his shy behaviour).

 

Perhaps psycho-analysing himself in the middle of class wasn’t the best thing for his – already pretty low – confidence. He had to look at the bright side for a change. And the bright side here, was that he could be rejected gently and Jihoon would still talk to him like nothing happened.

 

_YAY._

 

So maybe the bright side wasn’t so bright, but he wasn’t one to give up once he set his mind on something, even if that something that was decided by his stupid past-self, that made extremely poor choices in life and was highly influenced by alcohol.

 

He barely noticed the bell that rang for lunch time after long and tedious hours. If it weren’t for the noises of chairs scratching on the floor and the buzz of students, he would probably have continued spacing out in his own little world: pep-talking himself, doodling fighting stick figures and scribbling a step-by-step tutorial of his plan-to-action in the corner of his notebook. He was quite sure he wouldn’t be able to pull through with the damn plan anyways.

 

Woojin set his backpack  and headed for the cafeteria, wishing that Jihoon has some last time contretemps, that would prevent their encounter. At the same time, he wished to find him there, to just get over with this and stop obsessing on what to do with the chocolate and his feelings.

 

With one last sigh he entered the cafeteria, eyes searching everywhere for the familiar table where the brown headed boy used to sit with his friends. He was nowhere in sight. Woojin decided to sit there and just wait for his fate to come while eating his ramen slow and contemplative.

 

For a moment he wondered where his pain in the ass cousin was with his equally annoying boyfriend, but knowing those two, they probably skipped lunch to engage in some of their disgusting PDA. Woojin shudders at the thought.

 

Someone plopped besides him at the chair with a loud thud startling him from his reverie.

 

“Can I sit here?” Jihoon asks as if he hadn’t give Woojin the shock of his life. Despite his malfunctioning heart, that was drumming wildly in his chest after missing a beat or two, his mouth seemed to function just fine to give the boy a quick comeback.

 

“You kind of already did, so what’s the point of asking?” Woojin chuckles awkwardly at the way Jihoon scrunches his nose.

 

“It’s just a rhetorical question. An ice breaker.” Jihoon said with a bright smile that definitely broke the ice, even  melted it. Woojin really needed to focus on the words the other was saying because he was stunned by the boy’s beauty and his thoughts were already side-tracking. “Are my notes helping you? I’m sorry for my awful handwriting. Guanlin says it looks like chicken scratches.”

 

“They really do,” Woojin blurted to a mildly offended looking Jihoon, before adding in a apologizing tone “...but they helped a lot, thanks. Uh. By the way, I’ve finished already. I’ll give them to you in a sec.” It was a pain trying to find the notes in his messy bag, so he started rummaging inside and taking out some of his stuff, including the cute little bag with the chocolates and his letter, before putting it beside the notes. “Jihoon, I…”

 

“WATCH OUT!” A ball zoomed towards Woojin, hitting him straight on the head and making him fall from his chair with the sheer impact. His vision was blurred for a second and he could feel the start of a headache, when heard a few shouts in the distance.

 

“KIM JAEHWAN, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?” Jihoon screeched in a threatening way to the jolly soccer guy, that came in their direction to collect the ball while saying sorry repeatedly and trying to not get his head bitten off by the small and furious boy above Woojin. “Hey, are you okay? Do you want me to walk you to the infirmary?” Jihoon asked softly, voiced laced with concern while Woojin tried to focus his doubled vision.

 

“No, it’s ok. I’m completely fine. Just a bit dizzy.” Woojin answered shaking his head to clear his mind and sight.

 

“Are you sure? You don’t look fine to me.”  Jihoon pressed out, offering a hand to help Woojin to stand up.

 

Woojin looked around, feeling self-conscious of all the curious eyes on him, the low rumble of gossip and the few snickering heard everywhere. “I’m ok, Jihoon. Don’t worry.” Jihoon looked at him like he was going to protest, but Woojin was quicker on his feet, grabbing his stuff and putting it swiftly on his backpack in a haste to get the hell out of the cafeteria as fast as he could, not looking back.

 

It was only after he walked back from the infirmary to class that he noticed he left the bag with the letter and chocolates behind.

 

_Fuck._

 

There's no turning back now. It’s just too late. _Shit, shit, shit._ Murphy's Law really did exist and it was coming for his sorry ass. What had he ever done to the world to plot against him?

 

_Wait a second._

 

Jihoon got the bag and the chocolate and the letter. Why was he even worried? Wasn’t it supposed to go to him anyways? It’s done. The dare is done and he is free.

 

He knew he should feel some kind of happiness at the thought… if not happiness at least accomplishment for a job well done. He didn’t feel accomplished at all and the job was half-assed at most, so let’s just say he felt a bit of relief and call it a day, shall we?

 

He was actually exhausted for the extra effort his brain had to go just for the sake off a stupid and unfulfilled plan (well, kinda fulfilled) than any comfort the dare provided him with. He was pretty sure he lost some neurons in the process too.

 

It is what it is and now he just had deal with the consequences. Oh God, the consequences. Great. He had forgot those in his haste of doing the deed.

 

There was a emptiness in the bottom of his stomach he couldn't shake off. Something was wrong and he couldn’t figure out what it was, he was obsessing over it the rest of the day till the last bell echoed the ending of the classes.

 

It only took one second to notice a figure at the door, playing with his phone. It was a sillhouette he would recognize anywhere, he had wasted more time than he was proud of staring at that sculpted profile when he thought no one could see.

 

Woojin’s gut feeling was right(as it usually is on times like this), Jihoon had waited for him outside his classroom looking so beautiful it hurt. How he even knew his classes remained a mystery.

 

With a nervous gulp he moved to the door pretending he didn’t see Jihoon and power walked to the exit as fast as he could without drawing unnecessary attention from the crowd of students that flooded the corridor. He was almost making to the school’s gate when he heard his name.

 

_SO CLOSE._

 

“Woojin! YAH! Wait!” shouted Jihoon from somewhere behind him. He really didn’t have to bother to come all the way here to reject him. For real. Jihoon could just ignore him and it would be fine. No hard feelings. Just hurt feelings, but he had that coming already.

 

Woojin sighed, stopping on his tracks and slowly turning to see Jihoon with flushed cheeks and panting a bit holding the bag™ in his hand.  Jihoon gave Woojin a big grin before holding the bag in his line of sight. “You forgot this in the cafeteria earlier.”

 

“Oh. Oooohh. You don’t have to give back to me. It’s for you anyways. So, you can have it.” Woojin couldn’t believe he spent the past hours suffering in anticipation when Jihoon hadn’t even looked at the contents of the bag! HA!

 

“For me? What is it?” Jihoon asked taking a peak inside the bag.

 

“Just something I wrote for you and some homemade chocolates.” Woojin blurted scratching his neck as Jihoon’s eyes grew twice their size. “You don’t have to keep it or even read it to be honest. I mean you must receive tons of chocolates and confessions on Valentines every year and no one eats that much chocolate, right?” Woojin chuckled embarrassed, almost not catching the small “I do” from Jihoon which made him smile inwardly from how cute the other boy was, even at a time like this. _God, I'm so whipped!_

 

“And I know… I know you are not looking for a relationship, but I only learned it today, so I’m sorry for this? I just want to give this to you and go home to eat some ice cream and watch sappy movies to sooth my stupid heart from rejection… so if you don’t mind.” Woojin gave him a tight lip smile and turned to walk to his home and regret his confession.

 

A hand stopped him by pulling his clothes. “What do you mean you learned today I’m not looking for a relationship? Is there some rumor going on I’m not aware of?” Jihoon pulled him closer looking straight into his eyes, and Woojin wouldn’t lie, it was a bit intimidating, even if he felt a thrill at the closeness.

 

“What? No, no rumor. I just saw how you and David were setting up a date, so I assumed you are not looking for anyone anymore since you already have someone.”

 

“Me and David? Who is... do you mean Daniel?  A date? WHAT?” Jihoon looked weirdly outraged at the possibility of him and Daniel being a thing, which only served to confuse the hell out of Woojin as the guy seemed to be the complete package.

 

“I don’t wanna seem like I was snooping, cause I really was not, I just happened to be in the vicinity...” he said justifying himself, moving his hands fast, “...but he said something about meeting you after his dance practice?”

 

Jihoon started laughing loudly and everytime he stopped and tried to speak, another round of laughter came from him. Woojin didn’t know if he should feel offended or not.

 

_Is Jihoon laughing at me?_

 

“Daniel and I are partners…” Jihoon began, when he managed to stop giggling, a little out of breath as Woojin’s face fell, “...in online games. We were just setting up our game schedule earlier. Also God forbid anyone hear you saying stuff like this! Daniel’s boyfriend is kinda of the jealous type.  I’m trying to get on his good side. Maybe he will find me a small part in a play once I’m out of here. So don’t spoil it for me, Woojin.” Jihoon poked Woojin’s chest, as the younger’s face light up like a kid’s on Christmas morning. But then he realized how dumb he was, for having an overactive imagination that created a fake love story between Daniel and Jihoon.

 

“I feel incredibly stupid right now.” Woojin spoke softly, adjusting his bag on his back to avoid the eyes full of mirth of Jihoon.

 

“Lucky you I’m really into clueless cute guys then.”

 

“Huh?”

 

Jihoon smiled and started fidgeting with his uniform, wiggling his fingers around his chest. Woojin looked at him confused not understanding what was happening once again.

 

“Here. It’s yours.” Jihoon held out his hand, giving Woojin a small and cool object.

 

“A button? Why are you giving me this?”

 

“Do you really want me to spell it out for you? This is the second button from my uniform, Woojin. And I’m giving it to you.” Jihoon gesticulated with his hand, in a giving motion, as he touched Woojin’s chest. Woojin cocked his head to the side, still clueless. “It’s the closest to the heart, Woojin. It’s a metaphor, for Christ’s sake!”

 

“Of what?”

 

“This is my way of confessing. Oh my God! You’re making me regret doing this.” Jihoon facepalmed, getting frustrated with the oblivious boy.

 

“Oh...oooh.” Everything clicked, words finally making sense in Woojin’s mind.  ”I swear I’m usually not this slow, it’s just a lot to take in right now. It’s hard to process that YOU would have a thing for ME.”

 

“You should give yourself more credit, Woojin. You are great.” Jihoon spoke softly, giving two light pats on his cheek softly before walking away.  

 

“Hey, wait, where are you going?” Woojin froze dumbfounded. He really had to stop acting stupid everytime Jihoon got close like this.

 

“WE are going to walk home together. And maybe grab an ice cream on the way? How does it sound to you?” Jihoon looked inviting smiling back, a few steps ahead of Woojin.

 

“Like the best idea since the invention of the wheel.” Woojin beamed  to his crush, heart racing a mile per second as something bubbled on the pit of his stomach. This time it was the sweetest sensation. He dare say it were butterflies fluttering their excited wings and making him feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

 

Jihoon giggled as he waited for Woojin to catch up. They walked side by side to the nearest ice cream parlor and Woojin couldn’t be happier with the outcome of his dare.

 

Truth or dare was a great game. Awesome even. He had to thank Daehwi and Jinyoung whenever they would see each other again. The only still kind of dumb thing here was himself. But luckily for Woojin, Jihoon was really into clueless cute guys.

 

**Author's Note:**

> A special thanks to @HobisHarling for helping me so promptly and accepting the challenge to beta my fic! 
> 
> Thanks to my friends that also incentivated me, Car, Aline and Ang~ ilu!!! ❤
> 
> Comments and feedback are always appreciated~ ^^
> 
> You can come say hi to me on Twitter: @jessunnie88


End file.
